DISPUTE

IN the front row at the Bank of Ireland AGM, Brian O'Donnell chuckled bitterly to himself and shook his head as bank governor Archie Kane told how the bank always tried to keep people who are in arrears in their homes.

True to form, Mr O'Donnell still managed to get the last word in.

As the AGM wound down with a final question from the back, Mr O'Donnell rose to his feet in order to complain that he hadn't had an opportunity to ask his own question.

Grudgingly, he was permitted and launched into a furious attack on the track record of bank CEO Richie Boucher, questioning why he, along with the other executive board member, Andrew Keating, should be reappointed. contracts He also wanted to know why he wasn't allowed to read their contracts when he had asked.

"What are they hiding?" he demanded.

The solicitor queried what the actual financial situation of the bank is. He claimed Mr Boucher had overseen the loss of €20bn.

But it was merely a final damp squib thrown by Mr O'Donnell - just as he had earlier tossed a defunct set of keys for Gorse Hill at Mr Boucher, hooking them on his finger and lobbing them on the table in front of him.